Rejected and Regretted

Five

☆ AVRIL ☆

My eyes widened in shock as I tried to process the fact that Koen had just…protected me?

Where the hell had he even come from? One second it was only me and Angelica’s clique; the next, Koen was standing right in front of me. It was like he jumped out of nowhere, but then again, I was so focused on my hostile exchange with my childhood bully that I tuned out everything else.

The adrenaline made my heart race. Despite my urge to confront him about his unexpected presence, I remained silent, engrossed in the strange scene unfolding before my eyes. His grip on Angelica's wrist was so strong that her skin reddened under his fingers, and I caught myself wondering how her arm hadn't snapped under such pressure. His powerful alpha aura was so intense, he didn’t need to bare his fangs to make Angelica shiver. I could feel his rage even with his back turned to me.

What I couldn’t understand was what had made him so angry.

“A-alpha K-koen-” Angelica stammered, but he didn’t want to listen.

Still holding her by the arm, he pushed her back before releasing his grasp on her, causing her to whimper. “Tell me you were not just about to hit Avril,” he ordered suggestively, trying to maintain a calm tone, but no effort would be enough to mask his fury.

“I-I-” At this point, the girl couldn’t even form words; she was shitting herself.

Inhaling a deep breath, probably in an attempt to keep his cool, Koen growled, “If you won’t respect Avril as a former pack mate, you will respect her as our guest! Raise your hand to her again, and I won’t let you off with just a warning. Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes, Alpha! Crystal clear!” She nodded vehemently.

“Good. Before you leave, you will apologize to Avril,” he commanded.

I could see her face contort, clearly disgusted at the thought of showing me any decency, but she didn’t hesitate longer than a second. “I’m really sorry, Avril. It won’t happen again.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Damn, she must’ve been truly scared.

“Now, get out of my sight!” he roared, and with a final gasp of fear, Angelica and her friends ran off with their tails between their legs.

As soon as they had disappeared, I witnessed Koen’s tense muscles stretching underneath the delicate fabric of his shirt, his rigid posture easing into a more relaxed stance. As he turned to me, the storm in his deep green eyes calmed, and as they locked on mine, a sense of tranquility replaced his earlier fury.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his previously horse voice now soft and tender.

“I’m fine. I didn’t need your help,” I spat. I wouldn’t let him believe he had saved me, not just because it hurt my ego, but because I didn’t want to inflate his.

“From where I was standing it looked like you were about to let her slap you,” he insisted.

I averted my gaze. If only he knew how freaking hard it had been for me to feign submission like that. “I’ve endured dozens of her beatings,” I blurted out the first thing I could come up with to excuse my deliberate lack of reaction. “I’ve grown used to the pain.”

My answer seemed to affect him more than I expected, a mix of guilt and anger permeating his features. “Has she always acted this way toward you?”

“Are you gonna tell me you didn’t know?” I huffed, growing tired of his obviously fake concern. Shooting him a quick side glance, his expression was one of pure oblivion. Damn, he was good. But he wouldn’t fool me, not after everything he’d done.

“If I did, I would’ve done something about it,” he insisted.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his act, forcing a smile instead. “Well, you just did. No need to worry about me anymore. You can go back to your alpha duties.”

As I walked past him, he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more, but quickly shut it, thankfully letting me go without another word.

But I couldn’t deny that he had succeeded in leaving me intrigued.

***

The next morning, I woke up at 5 a. m. in hopes everyone else would still be asleep. As an alpha, I trained every day to stay in shape. However, the members of this pack all thought I was an omega who couldn’t fight; it would certainly raise suspicions if they saw me practicing my moves. So, I snuck out of my room and headed towards the borders, where I should stay out of sight.

Throughout my fifteen-minute walk, I also tried to come to terms with the fact that my mission would inevitably be longer than I wished for it to be. After searching every corner of every building across the territory, I concluded that the ashes were likely kept inside one of the rooms located at the higher floors of the packhouse, just as I had feared.

And naturally, this implied I would have to become closer to the person who hurt me the most in my entire life.

“While it is indeed dreadful to have to spend time with that asshole, we don’t have to get involved,” Kea observed. “All we have to do is convince him we want to be friends, then betray him like he did us.”

“That is, if he is willing to be friends with us in the first place,” I countered. “He rejected us once. I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t want anything to do with us.”

“Back then, we were powerless. Now, you’re his only chance at forging an alliance with a powerful rising pack. It’s in his best interest to appease you.”

Well, I had to admit she had a point.

“Besides, we were once mated. If he doesn’t buy the act, you can always seduce him,” she argued.

“Goddess.” My stomach twisted at the thought of me being intimate with him. Gross. “Let’s hope it doesn't come to that.”

“We must do whatever we need,” she reminded me. “For our pack.”

Damn Kea - always the voice of reason. With a grunt, I hurried my pace. Suddenly, the idea of training became more of a need than a desire. Punching a few trees would be good to blow off some steam, in turn helping me focus.

Sadly, it seemed the Moon Goddess wanted to show me once again that nothing could ever be so simple for me.

Just as I made it to the forest surrounding the endless hills, the loud thud of an echoing impact caught my attention. It was followed by another one, this time accompanied by a cracking noise, as if a wood plank had been snapped in half. Realizing I had company, I halted to take a look around, quickly spotting my target camouflaged between the bushes and tree trunks.

Alpha Koen.

He was roughly fifty feet away, but I could clearly see him repeatedly striking a triangle of trees with strategic combos. My initial thought was to turn tail, but something kept me rooted to my spot. For some reason I couldn’t really comprehend, my gaze lingered on him, and for the first time since my return, I allowed myself to take a good look at him.

The alpha was wearing only a dark pair of shorts, the upper-half of his body completely exposed. With my heightened werewolf sight, I could see every single one of the muscles on his insanely ripped back flex with each of his strikes. His fair skin, majestically tanned, bore the warm golden hues of summer, as if blessed by the Sun God himself. The scars he carried weren’t flaws, but trophies of the battles he had fought, and won; a testament of his strength.

I only snapped out of my trance when Koen suddenly stilled, his training interrupted. He ran his hand through his wild light blonde hair, the roots darkened with sweat.

Then, his voice sounded, making my heart jump. “Are you planning on coming closer to say hello, or are you fine silently watching from a distance?”

Just as he finished his sentence, he tossed a glance over his shoulder, and I was captured by his hypnotizing dark green eyes. They were so profound and full of life. I almost wanted to wander into them, venture deep into those forests until I lost my trail.

Goddess, what is wrong with me? I shook my head, trying to recover my senses. Yes, Koen was insanely hot; even the blind could see it. Yet, beneath his undeniable charm, there was an arrogant, selfish asshole. Disappointed, I scolded myself for ogling at him like a hungry she-wolf. It was a moment of weakness I feared I might never live down.

Once back to my right mind, I cleared my throat to reply with another question, too embarrassed to answer his initial sarcastic comment, “What are you doing here?”

A chuckle broke through his lips as he fully turned around to face me. “I should be asking you the same thing.”

Again, I froze, desperately trying to come up with a lie. “I, uh…couldn’t sleep. I thought going for a walk could help.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Around the borders?” With long steps, he closed the distance between us until he was a mere five feet away. “You shouldn’t be here alone. Rogues could sneak in and attack you.”

I furrowed my brows, unable to figure out what annoyed me the most - his fake concern for my safety, or the fact he thought I was a helpless pup. For the sake of my disguise, I refrained from telling him I could definitely stand my ground against a few feral beasts.

“Why are you alone here, then?” I asked. “And so early at that. Shouldn’t you join your warriors at training at seven?”

“You have a lot of questions,” he observed, and once again, I cursed myself.

I was supposed to be an omega. No omega would question an alpha like that. He didn’t have to explain himself to anyone, especially not to a low-ranking guest.

But to my surprise, he seemed amused rather than annoyed. “Since you’re up and already here, how about we go get breakfast? I’ll be happy to tell you everything you’d like to know about me and my training.”

The idea of sitting down to chat and eat with him sounded so disgusting, it was hard not to make a face. I was about to politely decline his offer when I remembered what Kea and I had discussed a moment ago. This would be the perfect opportunity to initiate my plan of getting his trust.

So, I accepted his invitation.

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A/N: Hi, dear readers! Hope you're enjoying the story so far :)

I currently have a PTR story that is enrolled in a contest, and it would mean the world to me if you could vote for it with your moon tickets to help the story win some prizes. The title is Remember Me, Mate. Thank you in advance!